This site is an effort by many city, county, tribal, state and federal agencies to coordinate and aggregate information for Oregon communities affected by wildfire smoke. The information is posted here by the agencies themselves while volunteers built and are maintaining the page.

Oregon Smoke Information

Map Notes:

The map above is not able to show all state air quality monitors. To see the whole set, go to the left column, under Hot Links and click on DEQ Air Quality map which will bring up a map with many additional state monitors. Round icons represent permanent state air quality monitors, triangular icons represent temporary smoke monitors (when deployed).

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Medford, OR – Jackson County health officials and DEQ want to remind
Jackson County residents to watch for smoke levels that are unhealthy for
sensitive groups. It is important for people to be observant of the air quality
during the wildfire season, smoke levels can rise and fall rapidly depending on
weather factors including wind direction.

During a wildfire smoke event, Jackson County health officials and DEQ
advise residents to take the following precautions:

·Be aware
of smoke concentrations in your area and avoid the places with highest
concentrations.

·Avoid
smoke either by leaving the area or protecting yourself by staying indoors, and
by closing windows and doors

·Avoid
strenuous outdoor activity in smoky conditions.

·People
exposed to smoky conditions and who suffer from asthma or other respiratory
problems should follow their breathing management plans or contact their
healthcare providers.

Conduct a visual assessment: People can conduct a visual assessment of
nearby smoke to quickly get a sense of air quality levels by using the 5-3-1
index. Residents will want to determine
the limit of their visual range by looking for distant targets or familiar land
marks, such as mountains, buildings, and hills at a known distance. The visual range is that point at which these
targets are no longer visible. Once a
distance has been determined, follow the guidance below:

If under 5 miles: The air quality is unhealthy for young
children, adults over age 65, pregnant women, and people with heart and/or lung
disease, asthma or other respiratory illness. These people should minimize outdoor
activity.

If under 3 miles: The air quality is unhealthy for everyone.
Young children, adults over age 65, pregnant women, and people with heart
and/or lung disease, asthma or other respiratory illness should avoid all
outdoor activities.

If under 1 mile: The air quality is very unhealthy, and in
some cases may be hazardous. Everyone should avoid all outdoor activities.

If visibility is well over five miles, the air quality is generally
good. No matter how far you can see, if someone feels that they are having
health effects from the wildfire smoke exposure, they should take extra care to
stay inside or get to an area with better air quality. They should also see their doctor or health
professional as needed.

Curry
Community Health, Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality are offering Oregonians ways to identify poor air
quality conditions and tips to stay healthy and safe during fire season.
Wildfires across the area can create hazardous and smoky conditions.

People
with chronic lung or heart conditions, the elderly and children have higher
risk of health problems from the fine particles in wildfire smoke. People who suffer
from asthma or other respiratory conditions should follow their breathing
management plans, keep medications on hand, and contact their health care
provider if necessary.

Curry
Community Health urges residents to take the following precautions to avoid
breathing problems or other symptoms from smoke:

Be aware of smoke
concentrations in your area and avoid the places with highest
concentrations.

Residents can check the
current local air quality conditions on Oregon Smoke blog <http://oregonsmoke.blogspot.com/. Avoid outdoor activities
when air quality is unhealthy and hazardous.

To avoid smoke either leave
the area or protect yourself by staying indoors, closing as many windows
and doors as possible without letting your home overheat, and using a
filter in your heating or cooling system that removes very fine
particulate matter.

Avoid strenuous outdoor
activity in smoky conditions. Young children and persons with heart or
lung problems are especially vulnerable.

Persons
suffering from asthma or other respiratory problems should follow their
breathing management plans or contact their health care provider.

New starts continue to pop up in the area. There are currently about 10 small fires in
the complex. Most are contained.

Smoke

The winds will be generally from the northeast in
the late evening through early morning.
They will then become northwest during the day. The same pattern is expected to hold
through Thursday. The numerous small
fires in the area are leading to a general haze.

Smoke can be expected to move towards the southeast
in the afternoon. In the evening the
smoke will drain down the valleys such as: the Wood River toward Chiloquin
and Klamath Falls and the Upper Rogue towards Prospect and Shady Cove.

Disclaimer: Conditions may change quickly. These
predictions are based on anticipated weather and fire activity. AQI estimates
for sites do not represent a full 24-hour time period. Instead they reflect a period of time
within the day where smoke impacts would be greatest.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

The
Milli Fire burning in the Three Sisters Wilderness brought smoke into Sunriver
Wednesday afternoon.

People
in the area should take the following precautions:

- Be aware of smoke concentrations in your
area and avoid the places with highest concentrations.

- Avoid strenuous outdoor activity in smoky
conditions.

- If you have heart disease, asthma or other
respiratory ailments, or are over 65, you have a higher risk of illness from
wildfire smoke.

- Small children and pregnant women are also
at increased risk. People in any of these groups might consider leaving the
area until air quality improves.

- People suffering from asthma or other
respiratory problems should follow their breathing management plans or contact
their healthcare providers.

While residents can view current air quality
conditions at http://www.deq.state.or.us/aqi/ , Oregon's monitoring network does not capture
air quality conditions in all communities. For this reason, it's important for
residents to gauge air quality conditions where they live and take appropriate
actions to protect themselves.

Remember, local smoke
levels can rise and fall rapidly, depending on weather factors including wind
direction.

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